You're Just My Ex-Husband,My Lord-Chapter 29- Aren’t you mad, Mom?

On the first day of their week-long Disney trip, Laurent rested at the hotel while Dave took their daughter out on his own. The father and daughter didn’t return until late in the afternoon.

After a whole day of playing, the little girl was so tired that she fell asleep on the way back. Dave carried her back to Laurent’s room and laid her on the bed. Laurent glanced at him but said nothing, simply taking their daughter from him and tucking her into bed.

Originally, Laurent had planned to let their daughter sleep with her that night. She didn’t want the situation from last night, when their daughter had woken up in the middle of the night crying for her, to happen again. Although, even in that case, Laurent had her period and couldn’t do anything, she still didn’t want to go back to his room.

Now that he had brought their daughter here on his own accord, she didn’t have much to say.

As she covered their daughter with the blanket, Dave stood beside her and spoke.

"Is your health better?"

Laurent’s movements froze slightly as she was tucking their daughter in. She felt incredibly awkward and uncomfortable because his concern felt so foreign and unfamiliar to her.

In Laurent’s mind, for the past few years, he had only focused on work. There had been no time for their daughter, and certainly no time for her.

He had never understood what she truly wanted. Yes, over the years, he had given her various gifts—jewelry, clothes, bags, even cars. He had given her almost everything a man could give to a woman.

But the things he gave her were just expensive, nothing particularly special. Limited editions or the latest models—her closet was filled with them.

Laurent had analyzed his own mentality. In his heart, he must have thought that by giving her the most expensive and best gifts, he had done enough. Whether or not it was a true expression of love didn’t matter to him.

But for her, she would rather have a cheap ring from a street vendor, as long as it was something he had chosen with care. That would have been enough.

So, when faced with his awkward attempt at concern, she gave him a formal, scripted response.

"I’m much better, thank you."

As her words fell, the atmosphere between them became immediately awkward.

Five years of marriage, and mutual concern should have been something routine. But for them, it was marked by this kind of alienation and awkwardness. Was it his failure, or was it hers? Or perhaps it was a shared failure?

After Laurent settled their daughter, she stood by the bed, already showing a clear sign of wanting to send him off. They had managed to avoid fighting, but all that was left was awkwardness. Didn’t he want to end this situation as quickly as possible?

But, of course, someone didn’t want it to end. Standing there, he looked at her and spoke again.

"Emma was really happy today."

"Mm."

Laurent responded listlessly.

She already knew her daughter would be happy, even without him saying it. The little girl had been looking forward to the Disney trip for so long—how could she not be happy? And just by looking at how exhausted she was, it was clear she had had a blast.

The atmosphere became awkward again because her simple "Mm" had cut off the conversation.

Laurent, feeling uncomfortable, was thinking of finding an excuse to send him away. But then Dave spoke again.

"Have you eaten?"

Though Laurent hadn’t eaten, she deliberately replied,

"I’ve already eaten, thank you. After spending the day with the kids, you must be hungry. You should go eat."

Finally, in response to her not-so-subtle hint to leave, Dave’s face darkened. He shot her a fierce look and then turned to leave her room.

After Dave left, Laurent let out a long sigh.

When the only interactions between two people are arguments or silence, when one person’s presence makes the other feel rejected and repelled, it means the relationship between them has come to an end.

That’s how it was between her and Dave now.

Her daughter, Emma Washington, woke up after about an hour of sleep. The little girl hadn’t had dinner, so Laurent planned to take her to the restaurant downstairs.

After spending the whole day outdoors, Laurent first took her daughter to the bathroom for a bath. The little girl excitedly chatted about everything she did that day, chattering nonstop.

Looking at her daughter in this state, Laurent couldn’t help but think back to her own younger self—always talkative, sticking to Dave every time they met, sharing all the funny stories from school, even though he wasn’t interested and found it annoying.

Back then, she didn’t even know where she found the courage to talk so animatedly to his ice-cold face. When she thought about it, she realized that her constant chatter was probably due to his silence. She feared the awkwardness of an empty conversation, so she filled the silence by trying to keep the mood light.

But now, she no longer had the courage to talk endlessly with him, nor did she have the energy or desire to please him anymore.

After talking for so long, the little girl finally grew tired, and the bath was finished. Laurent poured her some warm water to quench her dry throat. From her own experience, after talking for so long, she must have been thirsty!

Laurent then dried her daughter’s hair. Both of them had long hair, and as she was doing this, Laurent suddenly thought that maybe she should cut her hair short and change her style.

Since Dave liked long hair, she had kept hers long all these years. Later, after having Emma, she had also let her daughter grow her hair long. The traces of him on them both were too strong, and she needed to sever all ties.

Wasn’t there a song that went like this:

"I’ve cut my hair short, cut off the attachments, cut the split ends of love that wasn’t returned."

Laurent felt that the pain of unrequited love, the awkwardness of knowing the person she loved had feelings for someone else, and the resolve to cut everything off, were all so perfectly aligned with her current state of mind.

Her daughter’s hair was now dry. The little girl turned around, lowered her body, and whispered in her ear, "Mom, I have a secret to tell you."

She glanced at her daughter, and the little girl leaned closer and whispered,

"On the way back just now, Dad got a phone call, and there was an auntie crying on the other end..." 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

Laurent didn’t need to think twice to know who the call had come from.

Who else could it be, if not Clark?

Perhaps it was because she had completely lost hope in Dave and their relationship, but hearing her daughter’s words now, Laurent didn’t feel any strong emotions. She simply smiled at her daughter and lightly said "Oh" to acknowledge that she knew about it.

But to her surprise, the little girl wasn’t ready to let it go. She kept asking,

"Aren’t you mad, Mom?"

Laurent hadn’t quite figured out how to respond when her daughter suddenly huffed loudly.

"I’m mad!"

Then, with her little mouth pouting, she declared with childish determination,

"Dad should only be nice to me and Mom!"

Laurent wasn’t sure what to feel. After all, children are children—innocent and pure. How could her daughter dare to demand that Dave be kind to only her?

It was a wish Laurent had never had. She had never expected Dave to only love her, to be kind to no one but her.